Monday, October 3, 2011

6 comments:

Gary Kelly said...

Seems to me that McCain was more concerned with restoring the image of Republicans than supporting Obama's criticism.

JustinO'Shea said...

But of course, Gary, but of course. What else matters? Certainly not the dignity and respect of persons in the country. . .nopes. . .only the image of the Grand Old Party. . .that collection of stale farts posing as congress-persons. . .fortunately we do not know, really, what the women GOPers think. . .or do they?. . .except for the corn-feds in the Tea Party. . . .Oh, I give up! ;-))

J said...

John McCain earned my respect a long time ago when he refused a North Vietnamese ploy to release him from the Hanoi Hilton early because his father was an Admiral. He is, in fact, an important ally in the fight for acceptance of gays in the military. I wish some of you guys would show the political maturity of the old black civil rights leaders. When arch segregationist politicians like George Wallace and Strom Thurman made about faces, the blacks immediately forged alliances with them to share in the political power. Perhaps a better example is Nelson Mandella. When he left prison he didn't immediately scorn the aparthied whites as stale old farts. He worked with them and outclassed them. Isn't that what you're trying to do with the Catholic Church, Justin? After Ratziger's speech in Germany a couple of weeks ago I see him as only marginally better than the booers.
That said, you can never underestimate the power of the religious right to make Republicans appear cheap and mean-spirited. It will be interesting to see how the candidates respond when they are individually asked to condemn the booers. Herman Cain was the first, but probably not the last. I attended a Republican dinner party Saturday night with about 16 in attendance,in which a straw poll was taken. The big winner was Cain, followed by Romney. Perry got one vote and Bachman none.
A political fight to watch is going on in North Carolina, where a Bible-thumping state senator has managed to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would ban recognition of same sex marriage. The polls indicate a majority of the voters are opposed to it. If this amendment is defeated it will have major implications for the power of the religious right.

jimm said...

McCain gave us sara Palen. For that, he lost my respect. Nuff said.

Gary Kelly said...

I'm with you, Jimm. No one in his right mind would choose somebody like Palin as a running mate for the presidency. That's gotta be the biggest joke of all time (even bigger than our own PM Julia Gillard).

JustinO'Shea said...

J was musing early this morning about several matters, one being:
"I wish some of you guys would show the political maturity of the old black civil rights leaders."

Well, I'd say "we do our possible" but I don't think any of the gentlemen in this group were civil right leaders. . . if so, they remain quite silent.

As for their political maturity. . .well, J, I am not black. . I am not old. . . and I was not privileged to be a civil right leaders in the era I believe you refer to. But, I do "my possible" with who I am and what I've got. . as you do, I am sure, given geographical locations and the like.

I would be extremely happy to see such maturity modeled for me and others of my peers by the elected leadership with which we are encumbered. I haven't seen much of any from the current crop of the Senate and the House membership especially.

The French has a saying "We get the kind of government we deserve." That would be quite the indictment, n'est-ce pas?

justin